If you use this Good Will Mite, simply pin it to your letter, in order that it may be detached for filing. If the amount is given by more than one contributor, add blanks for their names, but attach the added sheet firmly to the Mite, that it may not become detached and lost. Include a given name in each case, and write plainly, to avoid errors on the Honor Roll.
Word-Hunt Contests.
Very great interest was taken in our "word" contests. We offered $50 in money to those who could find the most words in Webster and Worcester that might be made from the letters composing the words "Harper's New Monthly"; and the same sum, to persons under eighteen, who did the same with the letters composing the words "Harper's' Round Table." In both cases the money was to be divided, $25 to first, $10 to second, $5 to third, and $1 each to the next ten.
Over eleven thousand persons took part in these contests. We had certain rules, but answers received were entered in the competitions whether contestants conformed to the rules or not. None were excluded. Where rules were not followed words were cut out, all contestants being treated precisely the same. Some of our rules were unknown to a few contestants, but no one suffered on that account. The winners are those who exercised the most diligence.
Some contestants counted in a most extraordinary fashion, hundreds claiming in their totals from two to five times as many words as they really had. Others included plurals, when plurals were forbidden, and many did not number their words. Contestants who sent lists longer than the winning ones are assured that their lists, when subjected to our uniform and fair conditions, fell to much smaller proportions than when they left their hands.
It is an odd circumstance that almost all of the Junior winners live in Pennsylvania. But they resided in widely separated towns, and did not work together. The first Junior prize, of $25, was won by John A. Contant, Titusville, Pa., whose list contains 4585 words. The other winners are: Second prize, $10, M. W. Morton, Wingham, Canada, 4484 words; third prize, $5, Chauncey Shackford Curtis, Pittsburg, Pa., 4340 words; and the next ten, $1 each, James Norman McLeod, Scranton, Pa.; Willard O. Carpenter, Troy, N. Y.; George Conradson, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Hannah Adair, Fort Stevens—will she please give the State?—E. Lawrence Conwell, Upland, Pa.; Glen Skinner, Oak Valley, Kansas; Julia Ann Stiff, Maybrook, Va.; Henry O. Evans, Jun., who gives no address; Clarence Lessels, Troy, N. Y.; and Clayton Dovey, Latrobe, Pa. All of these ten had correct lists exceeding 4000 words.
Winners in the Senior contest were more widely distributed in the matter of residence. The sender of the longest list of words was Mrs. John D. Strange, Birmingham, Ala. Her list contained 4629 words, and she is awarded the first prize of $25. The second prize-winner of $10 is Miss Helen T. Littlefield, Avon, Mass., 4516 words; the third prize, $5, Miss Jessie V. Shover, Baltimore, Md., 4463 words; and the next ten, $1 each, were Miss Alice M. Chase, Dorchester, Mass.; Mrs. Agnes R. Conwell, Chester, Pa.; Miss Bertha Fuller, Somerville, Mass.; Miss Mary E. Roebuck, Upland, Pa.; Miss Lavilla Humason, Portland, Ore.; Miss Rose Wood, South Los Angeles, Cal.; Mrs. Edward G. Spencer, Penacook, N. H.; Miss Mary E. Chamberlain, Hudson, Mass.; Misses Irene and Ethel Bogert, Bayonne, N. J.; and Miss Mary Littlejohn, Fort Worth, Texas. All of the Senior winners had above 3800 words.
The prizes have been forwarded to reach winners at about the same time as this announcement of awards. While we congratulate the winners, we bid the losers to be of good cheer. It was a spirited contest, in which winners well earned their rewards.